The kinetics of the guanidine hydrochloride-induced unfolding and refolding of bovine beta-lactoglobulin, a predominantly beta-sheet protein in the native state, have been studied by stopped-flow circular dichroism and absorption measurements at pH 3.2 and 4.5 degrees C. The refolding reaction was a complex process composed of different kinetic phases, while the unfolding was a single-phase reaction. Most notably, a burst-phase intermediate of refolding, which was formed during the dead time of stopped-flow measurements (approximately 18 ms), showed more intense ellipticity signals in the peptide region below 240 nm than the native state, yielding overshoot behavior in the refolding curves. We have investigated the spectral properties and structural stability of the burst-phase intermediate and also the structural properties in the unfolded state in 4.0 M guanidine hydrochloride of the protein and its disulfide-cleaved derivative. The main conclusions are: (1) the more intense ellipticity of the intermediate in the peptide region arises from formation of non-native alpha-helical structure in the intermediate, apparently suggesting that the folding of beta-lactoglobulin is not represented by a simple sequential mechanism. (2) The burst-phase intermediate has, however, a number of properties in common with the folding intermediates or with the molten globule states of other globular proteins whose folding reactions are known to be represented by the sequential model. These properties include: the presence of the secondary structure without the specific tertiary structure; formation of a hydrophobic core; broad unfolding transition of the intermediate; and rapidity of formation of the intermediate. The burst-phase intermediate of beta-lactoglobulin is thus classified as the same species as the molten globule state. (3) The circular dichroism spectra of beta-lactoglobulin and its disulfide-cleaved derivative in 4.0 M guanidine hydrochloride suggests the presence of the residual beta-structure in the unfolded state and the stabilization of the beta-structure by disulfide bonds. Thus; if this residual beta-structure is part of the native beta-structure and forms a folding initiation site, the folding reaction of beta-lactoglobulin may not necessarily be inconsistent with the sequential model. The non-native alpha-helices in the burst-phase intermediate may be formed in an immature part of the protein molecule because of the local alpha-helical propensity in this part.